Why the Fight Over Sex Robot Brothels Won’t be About “Prostitution” (YNOT)

Read the full article by Gene Zorkin at YNOT.com

HOUSTON – When considering the small but growing phenomenon of sex doll brothels (or “sex robot” brothels as some have termed them), I think because of the descriptor “brothel” being used, a lot of people leap to assuming local governments which want to prohibit such businesses popping up in their area would do so by enforcing prostitution and pandering laws against them.

The problem with this notion is that under every prostitution and pandering statute of which I’m aware, the statutory definition of the crime specifically involves “persons” – and a sex doll or robot, no matter how advanced and feature-laden it may be, cannot reasonably be considered a person.

In Texas, for example, the statutory definition of prostitution states “a person commits an offense if, in return for receipt of a fee, the person knowingly offers to engage, agrees to engage, or engages in sexual conduct; or solicits another in a public place to engage with the actor in a sexual conduct for hire” or “if, based on the payment of a fee by the actor or another person on behalf of the actor, the person knowingly offers to engage, agrees to engage, or engages in sexual conduct, or solicits another in a public place to engage with the actor in sexual conduct for hire.”

On its face, this definition seems to preclude the possibility of charging a business or individual with prostitution for renting out sex dolls to their customers because, again, a doll is not a person.

So, what’s a poor, morally-panicked government to do, if it wants to prevent a sex doll brothel from opening shop on Main Street? In Houston, the City Council’s answer has been to amend its ordinance regulating adult arcades and adult mini-theaters, such that the revised ordinance will cover such brothels.

Prior to being amended last month, the ordinance’s definition of “arcade device” was: “Arcade device shall mean any coin- or slug-operated or electronically or mechanically controlled machine or device that dispenses or effectuates the dispensing of entertainment, that is intended for the viewing of five or fewer persons in exchange for any payment of any consideration.”

In early October, the City Council added to that definition this line: “Arcade device shall also mean an anthropomorphic device or object that is utilized for entertainment with one or more persons.”

The ordinance has also been amended to include the following language: “It shall be unlawful for the owners or operator and it shall also be unlawful for any agent or employee present in an adult arcade or adult mini-theatre to knowingly allow or permit any act of sexual intercourse, sodomy, oral copulation, indecent exposure, lewd conduct or masturbation with or without an individual or an arcade device to occur in the adult arcade or adult mini-theatre or to knowingly allow or permit the adult arcade or adult mini-theatre to be used as a place in which solicitation for sexual intercourse, sodomy or oral copulation occur.”

So, will Houston’s move work to forestall sex doll brothels opening in the area? Is the revised ordinance vulnerable to legal challenge? 

Gene Zorkin has been covering legal and political issues for various adult publications (and under a variety of different pen names) since 2002.